Semiconductor devices have been produced by the steps of coating an inorganic substrate with a photoresist; patterning the photoresist film by exposure to light and subsequent development; etching exposed region of the inorganic substrate using the patterned photoresist film as a mask to form minute circuits; and removing the patterned photoresist film from the inorganic substrate. Alternatively, after forming minute circuits in the same manner as above, the patterned photoresist film is ashed, and then the remaining resist residues are removed from the inorganic substrate.
With the advance to smaller circuit lines and the employment of more advanced lithography (e.g., 193 nm, ArF) to obtain same, anti-reflective coatings have been needed in order to control critical dimension (CD) and to maintain high image quality. Thus, the role of Si based spin-on anti-reflective coatings has expanded recently to incorporate pattern transfer responsibilities. The advantage of the use of such spin-on Si based anti-reflective coatings is generally at least two-fold: they are easily planarizable and are of sufficient different chemical composition from the photoresist required to be employed with ArF at 193 nm lithography so that high resolution pattern transfer during dry etch is facilitated. However, subsequent to the dry etch step, it is necessary to remove any photoresist or photoresist residue and the remaining anti-reflective coating without damaging the dielectric layer underneath or any metallization that has been undertaken.
There is therefore a need to provide a cleaning composition for removing etch/ash residue, photoresist and anti-reflective coatings while not damaging any underlying dielectric layer or metallization of the microelectronic device. It is particularly desirable to provide a cleaning composition for removing etch/ash residue, photoresist and Si-anti-reflective coatings while not damaging any underlying low-k dielectric layer, particularly any porous low-k dielectric layer, which are inherently chemically similar materials, and without damaging any metallization of the microelectronic device, particularly copper or aluminum metallization.